AN: I saw POTO again on the 7th! Teehee! That makes it 4 times! Woot! I went with my mom, her friend, and her friend's daugher (who is one of my best friends) and it was so much fun! It was kind of like a birthday celebration thing cuz my friend and I have birthdays that are 4 days apart (she's the 6th, I'm the 10th) so it was a lot of fun. I hardly ever see her cuz she lives 2 1/2 hours away from me, so it was really awesome! I had the best time. ANYWAY, enough about me, let's get this party started! I hope you like it!
It had been nearly a month since Meg's encounter with the infamous Phantom of the Opera. When she had emerged from the Opera House, she was met immediately by her mother, who pulled her into a warm embrace and refused to let go of her for several minutes. Meg hadn't meant to worry her, but she did. For about a week after the incident, Madame Giry kept a close eye on Meg, but things soon went back to normal shortly afterwards.
Meg had told everyone that she had seen the Phantom hang himself, and everyone seemed to except this as the truth. No one bothered to go down to the dungeons of the Opera House to see if it were true or not. Instead, they had boarded up the entrance to the Phantom's labyrinth and decided to put the whole thing behind them.
Meg didn't know why she had protected the Phantom. Perhaps payment for sparing her own life? Or was it because the poor man had suffered so much already, that it just seemed fair to let him live the rest of his life in solitude? Meg wasn't sure, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
The destruction of the Opera Populaire had put many people out of work, and left many homeless. Meg and her mother had found a flat not far from the Opera House and took temporary jobs at a bakery down the street. This would only last until the Opera Populaire was rebuilt, which would take some time.
Christine and Raoul had married just a few days earlier and were off on their honeymoon. Meg had the distinct feeling that Christine wanted to get as far away from Paris as possible, most likely to escape from all the madness Don Juan Triumphant! had created. Meg had wanted desperately to ask her friend what had happened that night, down in the cellar of the Opera Populaire, but thought better of it. Christine had already been through so much, asking her to relive that nightmare would only make things worse.
It had been nearly a month. Nearly a month since that night, since Don Juan Triumphant!, since the Phantom had let Meg go. No matter how much she tried, Meg could not stop thinking about him. He haunted her mind in the morning, he haunted her mind at work, but especially, he haunted her dreams. She couldn't forget him.
"...leave me to live, and die, alone." These words continued to repeat in her head. In her mind she could see him standing there, his eyes sorrowful and his voice cold and distant. Why was he there? Why was he haunting her so? Would she never be free from this hold he had upon her?
She needed answers, answers only he could give. If she didn't speak with him, he would always be there, haunting her every thought.
It was then that Meg decided to go back.
¤ ¤ ¤
Meg left for the Opera Populaire late one Friday night. She figured it'd be easier to enter the Opera House unnoticed if she went at night. She walked up the steps, a bag wrapped around her shoulder, and slowly pushed the door open. Inside, the building was torn apart, as they had begun rebuilding just last week. Meg shut the door behind her and headed toward the back of the opera, which was even worse than the front because of all the fire damage. The stage had been completely torn down, piles of garbage waiting to be taken out. These piles consisted mostly of burnt wood (which Meg figured had once been part of the stage) and the destroyed set of Don Juan Triumphant!.
The entrance to the Phantom's lair that the mob had used had been boarded up, this she knew, but she also knew that there was another way to his home. She headed toward the diva's dressing room, the one that had been Carlotta's, then Christine's.
She opened the door.
This was one of the lucky rooms that had not been reached by the fires, and Meg was glad. So much damage had been caused to the Opera House by the fire, that it made her happy to know that some of what was once her home was still unharmed.
She walked to the back of the room toward the mirror, remembering that there had been a passage through it that night she had come to see Christine, and she knew it would still be there. Meg felt around the mirror, trying to find some sort of handle to open it, and after a few minutes of searching, she finally found it. She pulled back hard and the mirror slowly slid opened. Meg looked down the long, dark corridor, and, taking a candle out of her bag and lighting it, she prepared to go down.
Meg hesitated, remembering what happened the last time she went down a dark corridor by herself to look for the Phantom. 'Come on, Meg, this is no time to get scared! You're here now, just go.' She thought. "He probably doesn't even live here anymore...," she said out loud, "yeah, he probably left, so why even bother?" She turned to leave, but stopped and looked back. She stared down the corridor for, what seemed like, minutes before gathering the courage to go down.
She took a deep breath, "Well, here I go again." And with that, she swung her bag over her shoulder and passed through the mirror, turning and sliding it shut behind her. She walked down the dark corridor, with only the candle in her hand to guide her, and followed the path until she reached many stone steps that looked like they went on for miles. She took another breath. 'This is going to take awhile.' She thought.
She headed down the stairs, watching out for any hidden booby traps, and when she finally reached the bottom she followed yet another corridor until she reached the lake. "Oh no!" She whispered to herself, out of breath, "The boat is gone! He must've taken it back after I left." She groaned. She would have to wade through the water to get to his lair. This was proving to be quite a bothersome task.
Meg stepped into the freezing cold water and yelped in surprise. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, hoping that the Phantom didn't hear her, if he was even there at all. She waded through the water until she saw the entrance to his home.
Wading through the water as fast as she could, she reached the closed gate, her only means of entrance to his home. Letting out of a breath of defeat, she leaned against the gate, tired from her long journey.
'Why am I going through all this trouble? He won't thank me. For all I know, he'd probably try and kill me again.' Meg thought, leaning against the gate and trying to catch her breath. After a few minutes of rest she prepared to leave, but stopped when she heard a cold voice from behind the gate.
"Who are you?" Meg turned around to see the Phantom, standing on the edge of his island, wearing an angered expression. When he saw Meg's face, his expression changed from anger to surprise. "You. Why have you–? Did I not tell you to never return!"
"Y-Yes." Meg stuttered.
"Then why are you here? Who are you?"
"Meg Giry, sir." She said, trying to be respectful.
"Giry...ah, now I remember you. Madame Giry's daughter, the dancer." All surprise melted away from his face and his expression became that of anger again. "You haven't answered my other question. Why are you here?"
Meg gulped, "Um...I-I just wanted to m-make sure that you were okay." The Phantom raised an eyebrow and Meg held her breath, waiting for a response.
"I'm fine." He said flatly, "Now that you know, you can go." He turned his back to her.
"Wait!" He stopped. "P-Please. I don't mean to be a burden to you, I really don't, I just - I - well, I brought you some food. I didn't know if you needed any." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "It's not much, just some left over bread from the bakery that they were going to throw away. It's still good, though! I wouldn't bring you anything disgusting." He kept his back to her and Meg didn't know if she should say anything more or just stay quiet.
"I don't want your pity." He said coldly after a moment or two, "Nor do I need it."
"N-No! It's not-!" She began, but he cut her off.
"I don't want your charity, then!" He said angrily, turning toward her as he said this. Meg jumped back with a start, her stomach in knots.
There was a moment of silence before Meg spoke again. "I'm sorry if I've offended you, that was not my intention." She said, looking away from him. "I shouldn't have come, I'm sorry to have wasted your time." Meg turned to leave, feeling defeated and...angry. Angry that she had wasted her time for that inconsiderate, unthankful man!
Meg clenched her fist and turned toward him. His eyes widened slightly, surprised at her sudden change in mood. She did not look happy. "I came all this way just for you!" She snapped at him, "I snuck into the Opera House, I walked down a long, dark corridor and down hundreds of stone steps! I even walked through cold, murky water just to bring you some food, and all you do is throw it all back in my face! Well, I'm not taking it!" She took a deep breath, "I brought you food and you're going to take it!"
Meg began to hyperventilate and was so outraged, she didn't notice the small grin that had appeared on the Phantom's face during her rants (and, apparently, neither did he or he would have stopped). The last thing he had expected was for her to lose her temper like that and, for some odd reason, he found it rather funny. The first thing he found funny in an extremely long time.
"I don't care if you eat it or not, but I'm not taking it back with me." She said, setting the bag on a rock outside his gate. By this time, the Phantom had realized the small grin on his face and quickly frowned, hoping Meg hadn't noticed (and she hadn't). "Do what you want with it! At least I know that I tried." She turned, yet again, and began to make her way back to the dock, but this time he stopped her.
"Meg Giry," The Phantom called after her, and Meg turned to look back at him. He looked as if he were unsure of what to say next. He wanted to say "thank you," but found it difficult to do so.
Meg seemed to understand what he was trying to say and simply nodded in reply. He nodded back and with that, she turned back around and headed home, smiling to herself the entire way.
AN: Omg, this chapter is so horrible. -blushing- I'm so embarrassed. I'll probably rewrite it, I dunno. It wasn't meant to turn out this way. I was just writing and before I knew it, I had this whole 'Meg loses her temper' scene and somehow it turned out to be funnier than I had intended it to. It also turned into a bit of a fluff scene near the end, didn't it? With the whole 'he nodded, she nodded' thing?
Man, I am so sorry 'bout that, everyone. I'm really out of it right now, lol! I wrote this all on my birthday (yesterday, 3/10 in case anyone wanted to know when this chapter was posted, which would be 3/11) and I was kind of hyper! lol!
I definitely know that Erik is OOC at the end, but, y'know...maybe he's not? He's only human, right? He can't be sour all the time. He's gotta smile, laugh, or find things funny at some point in his life, doesn't he? Doesn't he? Oh, I hope. lol!
This was more of a transition chapter, anyway. To just kind of get the flow of it started and get them together and start talking, y'know?
Just bare with me, please! I'll probably end up rewriting it later (if no one likes it, that is). Which I hope everyone does, cuz it'd be a real pain in the butt to have to rewrite it, but I'd do it if you guys really wanted me too. I love ya guys, and I'd only do it for you:) There will be plenty of angst in future chapters, kay?
Well, anyway, review, lemme know, thanks!
P.S. Does Madame Giry have a first name?
P.P.S. I won't get a chance to write very much til next weekend, I've got OGTs (Ohio Graduation Tests)all next week and when I'm not taking them, I'll be studying, and when I'm not studying, I'll be at work or sleeping. Just thought I'd let ya know it'll probably be a while before the next chapter is posted.
P.P.P.S. If anyone is wondering, the 'peace offering' was the food that Meg brought him. Just thought I'd clear it up before anyone asks.